By Jack Tiernan: Kell Brook looked brilliant on Saturday night in defeating his nemesis Amir Khan by a sixth round knockout at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Khan was outgunned by Brook from the onset, and it just got worse with every round. What was obvious is that Khan looked like a pumped-up 140-pounder in terms of his power facing a 154-pounder in Brook.
Brook took his time and fought cautiously until the fourth. From the fourth round on, Brook hit Khan (34-6, 21 KOs) at will with shots, hurting him and showing no respect for his power.
The 35-year-old Khan was in trouble early in the first round after Brook caught him with a hard right hand to the head.
Things didn’t get better for Khan in rounds two and three, and it was clear then that he was going to be knocked out.
“It was an amazing fight and an amazing event. It was too long in the waiting in the careers of both guys,” said Gareth A. Davies said to Intu Boxing on the Khan vs. Brook fight.
“Kell Brook was magnificent tonight. He exposed Amir Khan’s chin. He was patient. It wasn’t a world title fight, but it was a championship of each other. He showed why he is so brilliant in his ring generalship.
“He commanded the mid-range. He shielded Khan’s attacks. He knew where they were and where they were coming from. He landed not as many shots as power shots, and he consistently in a one-sided way, that was a beat down tonight.
“He hurt Amir Khan early and did the right things. Khan could never recover and move around the ring and had to take him on properly. Kell was the better man as far as the exchanges.
“Definitely, we saw all his great qualities tonight,” said Davies when asked if this was the best version of Brook in this fight.”Amir made him change his gloves to the Grant gloves when he came in the ring, which is very unusual.
“There was a dispute about him having horsehair gloves in the changing room. The key is he produced when he really needed to tonight,” Davies said of Kell.
“Look, it’s final, it’s settled. They’re 35-years-old and they’re both past their prime. But Kell had a lot more left and a lot more to prove, I think. He wanted that legacy and those bragging rights.
“He can go home now and say to his babies. He can put his slippers on and pipe and say, ‘I eventually took the soul of that guy, who I wanted to fight for years and years and achieved all these things.
“I wouldn’t say he [Brook] was in his shadow, but he [Khan] got all these accolades, but ‘I came up the hard way and I beat him in the end,'” said Davies.
